An Indian Air Force MiG-21 trainer fighter jet crashed in Rajasthan on July 28 night, killing two pilots Wing Commander M Rana and Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal. The incident took place around 9:10 PM on July 28 (Thursday) after the twin-seater MiG-21 trainer aircraft took off from the Utarlai air base in Rajasthan in the evening. Wing Commander Rana hailed from Himachal Pradesh and Flight Lieutenant Bal from Jammu, an IAF official said while releasing the names to the media on Friday. The two pilots were undertaking a training sortie near Barmer in the desert state.
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An Indian Air Force MiG-21 trainer fighter jet crashed in Rajasthan on July 28 night, killing two pilots Wing Commander M Rana and Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal.
This is not the first crash involving the MiG-21 fighter jets and it is often called ‘Flying Coffin’ and ‘Widow Maker’ for the sheer number of crashes it has suffered over the years, killing many pilots of the IAF.
In 2012, former Defence Minister AK Antony said in Parliament that more than half of the 872 MiG aircraft purchased from Russia had crashed. Due to which, more than 200 persons, including 171 pilots, 39 civilians, and eight other services’ people, had lost their lives.
The MiG-21 Bison is the first supersonic jet aircraft in the aviation history and also the most sold fighter jet in the world. While it’s more than 60 years old, the MiG-21 is still in service with the Indian Air Force with four active squadrons and has been updated to match generation 3 fighter jets.
With recent crash, the Indian Air Force has announced plans to retire another squadron of the MiG-21 Bison aircraft called the 51 Squadron based out of Srinagar air base which will retire on September 30. After this, only three squadrons of the planes would be left in service and would be phased out by the year 2025.
The HAL Tejas LCA was conceptualized to replace the ageing Soviet sourced MiG-21. IAF has placed an order of 40 Tejas Mk 1, including 32 single-seat aircraft and eight twin-seat trainers.
In 2019, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was flying a MiG-21 Bison chasing a Pakistan Air Force's F-16 fighter jet. In the following dogfight, Abhinandan shot down a much advanced and modern F-16 before his aircraft crashed inside POK and he was captured by Pakistani authorities.
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